September, 2018

  “First they came for the Communists, and I said nothing because I was not a Communist, Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I said nothing because I was not a Trade Unionist Then they came for the Jews” Thus wrote the German Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemoller of the moral cowardice which he […]

   Karen Bradley when last I heard was on her way to the United States. So, as it happens, am I, although I think the similarities end there. Like just about every  British proconsul, Karen is all at sea when it comes to our tormented green corner (TGC). In fact , the average speed bump […]

When I was a lad, our History teacher used to say that people should look for signs of madness in a political leader, and when they saw it, the leader should be shunned. Unfortunately, History wasn’t listening to our teacher. One of the signs, he said, was the destiny complex – when a leader started […]

’m recharging my batteries and travelling in France and in a couple of days will settle for three weeks ino ur caravan which my wife bought on our retirement eleven years ago and eight years ago towed to a beautiful site very near the Med. We often spend both May and September there and have […]

Why does the DUP detest the Labour Party so much? Well, for a start they have long memories. They remember the time  Harold Wilson came on TV and asked who “these people” – unionists – think they are, how he dismissed them as spongers. That is a bit strong, but at the same time you […]

There has been much talk recently – mainly in The Irish Times – about the dangers of treating the the famous back-stop as “a green and orange issue.” Agreed, the present UK-EU impasse is about much more than Irish nationalism and British unionism, but at the heart of it lies the “green and orange issue.” […]

  Shortly after Nurse Edith Cavell was shot in Belgium in 1915 by the Germans for spying, THE TIMES reported that her death was worth a couple of Army Corps to the British as chivalrous and generous youth flocked to their Colours to avenge the supposed atrocity. An Army Corps could be anything from 50, […]

I see where victims of terrorism have launched a campaign – #wordsmatter – to make sure that words such as ‘lone wolf’ or ‘mastermind’ are not affixed to terrorists, since this gives them glamorous status. Those behind #wordsmatter are certainly right about words mattering: they control how we think about a given issue. The word […]

                                         THE   LINGUISTIC LAPDOG with a LAPTOP picks a different BULLDOG to BITE ! That was the headline hollered by ‘The Daily Dog-Collar’ on Liffeyside during the week. This is the leading puplication for, as it […]

Was there ever a more blatantly dumb reason for refusing to allow an independent chairperson from facilitating talks between Sinn Féin and the DUP, than that offered by Arlene Foster and Nigel Dodds? They say you couldn’t have that, because the UK government is in charge in the north. That’d be the UK government you’ve […]